How Kilpatrick turned his life around after gambling addiction

Conn Kilpatrick accumulated in the region of £20,000 of debt during the height of his gambling struggles.

"It wasn't nice, but I am big enough to know that I put myself in that position. No one asked me to do a bet, I only have myself to blame."

In 2018, at the age of 21, he was in "£15,000-£20,000 of debt" and by his own admission had "brought shame onto the family".

After various counselling sessions and a chat with Armagh legend and addiction counsellor Oisin McConville, Kilpatrick appeared to be back on the straight and narrow, as he went a year and a half without betting.

However, Kilpatrick relapsed in 2019, spiralling down the same dreaded path as he accumulated a similar amount of debt through online betting.

Now almost three years on, the 2021 All-Ireland winner can proudly say that he has overcome a hurdle much greater than any he will face on a pitch.

• Listen to the full interview with Conn Kilpatrick on The GAA Social

The low point

Speaking on The GAA Social, Kilpatrick admitted the nadir was being confronted by his family when he was caught the second time around.

"The lowest point was getting caught again, it was the friends that heard the first time and they rang my dad again," recalled the Edendork club-man.

"My mother wasn't in the house at the time and I begged him not to tell her, that me and him could do this, but he couldn't keep that from her."

"Seeing the hurt again was the main thing when they thought everything wasn't that bad. My dad was just like 'how could you let this happen again, how could you put us through this again?'.

"I was just thinking everyone is going to see my mum and dad and think, 'their son is the gambling addict', which hurt as it was nothing to do with them, they didn't lead me down that path. I brought shame onto the family and that was the thing that I was most wary of."

He also admitted that his addiction had put a huge strain on his relationship with his girlfriend, which Kilpatrick is relieved he has been able to mend.

"I'm good now, it is coming up to three years gambling free at the end of March. It is a big deal, especially for me and my girlfriend, I thought we were done, but we are in a good space now.

"The first time we had only started going out so she didn't know how bad it had got, but the second time, we were a year and a half into our relationship and she hadn't a notion, so for her it was quite hard.

"When I came out so public about it I had to think about her and her family, I didn't want to let them down and the shame I felt was for her as well. Me not gambling makes our relationship better."

Redemption

A lot has happened to Kilpatrick in the intervening period. He has gone from experiencing extreme lows off the pitch, to ecstatic highs on the pitch.

He has become a mainstay of the Tyrone panel, helping them clinch their fourth All-Ireland title in 2021.

And believes that his ability to focus solely on matters on the pitch now have helped him and that can be attributed to attending GA (Gamblers Anonymous) meetings.

Kilpatrick was encouraged by McConville to attend when he first admitted the extent of his problems, and the 24-year-old believes that if he had headed that advice initially he would never had relapsed.

"Oisin had advised me to go to the GA and I didn't want to go. I didn't want people in the local area to see me going in and that is the truth, I was too embarrassed at the time."

"That was the wrong decision, as I genuinely believe if I had gone to them from the start I would have stuck to it and not relapsed, it would have been a great help" he added.

"Covid was probably the best thing that happened to me as the GA meetings were all moved to Zoom so I could just login and join a meeting anywhere. Even now I still try and make as many of the meetings as I can."

'We probably didn't carry ourselves as champions'

Kilpatrick admits "things didn't click" for Tyrone during a disappointing 2022 season

After the euphoria of bringing the Sam Maguire back to Tyrone for the first time in 13 years in 2021, the Red Hands were brought crashing back down to earth last season.

They were defeated by eventual winners Derry in the quarter-finals of the Ulster Championship and failed to make it beyond the qualifying stage of the All-Ireland after losing to rivals Armagh.

Kilpatrick acknowledges that it was a season to forget and that Tyrone failed to manage the pressure which came with being the team that everyone wanted to beat.

"We probably didn't carry ourselves as champions," he admitted.

"When Dublin were winning their five and six All-Irelands in a row they came out with their chests out and everyone knew Dublin were in town, whereas with us, no one had won an All-Ireland so we didn't know what the pressure was like" he said.

"Things didn't click for us, there is no real reason for it as we trained hard, in fact even harder as we wanted to be the first Tyrone team to win the All-Ireland back to back, but we just came up against good opposition and things didn't go the way we planned."

He is hoping that with the target off their backs this year they can get back to their All-Ireland winning best.

"When I first came in, we were chasing the likes of Dublin, Kerry and Mayo, then when we won it in 2021 and everyone wanted to beat Tyrone.

"I think we strive on everyone seeing us as underdogs, we want to turn over the big teams but for that 2022 season, it was the other way around and we didn't handle it well. We want to be the hunters instead of being the hunted."